A long, winding lawsuit brought against Google by a small group of consumers was dismissed by a federal judge in California on Wednesday. Plaintiffs accused Google of breaching its own privacy policy by sharing user data indiscriminately, more recently focusing on the amount of personal data shared with app developers through the Play Store. For instance, Alice Svenson says far too much private data was shared with the developer of YCDroid when she bought the app for $1.77.

The plaintiffs in an antitrust lawsuit against Google have dropped their case after losing in an initial ruling. Just over a month ago, we reported on Google's win. The federal judge overseeing the case ruled in Google's favor, but the plaintiffs had one last chance to change their arguments before the case was closed. Instead, they have decided to withdraw.

A group of consumers accused Google of anticompetitive practices in the distribution of Android due to the stipulation that their search engine must be default in order for the OEM to load the Play Store on devices.

According to a header from a sealed document unearthed by FOSSPatents, Google has requested to intervene in an ITC patent lawsuit between HTC and Nokia as co-defendant to the Taiwanese smartphone-maker. This is the first time Google has ever filed as an intervening 3rd-party in a patent lawsuit between one of its hardware partners and a competitor, so it may be the sign of a shift in strategy for the company.